Incentives for waste cooking oil collection in South Korea: A contingent valuation approach

•Korean households’ participation in WCO collection with incentive is examined.•The WTA for WCO collection is derived.•Drop-off system and curbside system is compared with each other.

This study examines Korean households’ participation in waste cooking oil (WCO) collection when an incentive is provided, which has rarely been discussed in the existing literature. Using the contingent valuation method, we examine three issues. First, we investigate factors that can potentially increase participation in WCO collection, revealing that the collection system, expenditures on cooking oil, incentive levels, and the number of family members affect respondents’ participation in WCO collection. Second, we analyze the incentive level required to attract Korean households to participate in WCO collection. This level is approximated as the willingness to accept (WTA) the utility losses engendered by participation. The mean WTA value under a drop-off system is KRW 772 (USD 0.70) per liter of WCO, whereas the mean WTA under a curbside system is KRW 546 (USD 0.21) per liter. Finally, we consider the potential effects of providing an incentive for participation in WCO collection and show that this would be likely to increase WCO collection from households but would not significantly contribute to an increase in the volume of domestic feedstock for biodiesel.